9/13/14 First adventure
Spent the first couple hours creating characters. We have a variety of very social characters which is unusual. Also a little ironic since all the NPCs hate us.
As the story starts all the PCs are down on their luck and have run into misfortune. The elven gypsies have banded together with some humans in order to try to get someone who will talk to them. But it seems to have backfired as there are more mouths to feed and they have no money, either.
Eventually, hungry and tired and running out of food while travelling between towns, Koto and Vincys go fishing. They catch some fish and make a wonderful fish dish they call Saltrout. It feeds people for one night at least. Speaking of the night...During the night the group is attacked by goblins and their rat-dogs. The enemies are driven off, though Cal is bit by one of the rat-dogs and gets a nasty infection/rash. Vincys remembers that goblin ears might be turned in for a bounty. So we collect them to turn in at the next city.
At the next city we find out that they ran out of money to pay the goblin bounty. But we are able to find a guard who will buy them off of us for half price so he can turn them in later once the taxes have been collected. The money is very minimal and barely feeds the group. Speaking of food, even with their disguises and smooth talking selves the group runs into extreme bigotry and hatred. Finding an inn to stay at is nearly impossible.
Roulette decides to try singing and dancing on the street corner. All that ends up happening is she has to chase off street punks. She tries again with Koto in the marketplace. She actually does a great performance and works her magic, but Koto drops the ball and is found out immediately. During the ensuing disruption most of Rue's money she collected is stolen as well.
Eventually the party hears that there are goblins in the Western Forest that have been causing problems for travelers. The group decides that they will hunt down the goblins. They hope clearing out the goblins will do 3 things: get the town to like us a bit more, collect a reward and loot the goblins for treasure. However, having very little knowledge of the area and no tracking skills it is decided a guide must be hired. The cart is sold for a handful of gold and Vincys, Koto and Alara go looking for a guide.
Fortunately they run into Dru. Dru is an elven ranger who also has been running into a lot of hatred and has had trouble finding work and money. Fortunately he has survived off his woodsman skills. He is hired and Vincys even convinces him to take payment after the job.
The group gets back together at Dru's campsite and everyone enjoys some of Dru's wine and food. A few stories are shared before everyone heads to bed.
9/27/14 Goblins!
The group is tracking the goblins thru the woods and comes upon a scene of a fearsome battle. There are a number of dead goblins and 3 dead humans. As we go about trying to determine what happened and if there is any useful loot when Alara determines that one of the humans is still alive! She wakes him up and finds most of the blood on him is not his own. He did take a nasty hit to the head which knocked him out. After recovering he introduces himself as Rolph, a human man-at-arms. He was hired to help take out the nearby goblins, but his group was ambushed by hobgoblins. He was the lone survivor. Rolph and the group work out an agreement to help each other out and join forces. The group is up to 8 strong and Donkey.
After some time we discover an old road thru the woods that hasn't been used in decades. Vincys remembers that it was an old highway that led to a fort. We all make the logical step that the goblins are probably holed up in the old fort. We camp for the night at which time we discover we are being watched. The goblin rider takes off and we are unable to catch up to them. Knowing the goblins are now going to be forewarned the party prepares to head to the fort and get there around midday. Dru and Rue scout the fort and report back. The group decides to take out the sentries and assault the old fort. There is very little resistance from the goblins. Most of their rat-dogs they are riding are killed at range and then the goblins that survived the barrage get beat down by the swords of the attackers moving up.
Once in the fort we realize that there are very few goblins left. Their ruined outbuildings they lived in are nearly abandoned. The main keep of the fort is still in pretty good shape and upon exploring it we find stairs leading down. Koto stays with donkey to keep an eye on him and the rest of us head down into the basement of the keep.
In the basement most of it is old and in poor shape. We find mostly abandoned rooms filled with old waste and ruins. We do find the old dungeons that are apparently used as the waste disposal for the forts denizens. Searching further we come upon the hobgoblins that attacked Rolph. After some fighting and Rolph taking a nasty hit we are able to beat them down. Alara heals up those who were injured and the exploration continues. We run into some orcs and their shaman and realize they were the ones leading the operation. We are able to dispatch them rather quickly although Alara takes a javelin to the gut. Fortunately she is able to heal herself. Having a cleric has been lifesaving so far.
After clearing out the orcs we loot their treasures and find the old armoury for the fort. It has been blockaded and the words "spiders!!!" written across it in Goblin. Rue thinks it would be a great idea to check it out as it probably is just a poor attempt by the goblins to keep people from their treasure.
Rue breaks down the boards and is able to open the door. Cal, Alara and Rolph enter the web strewn room to check it out. Suddenly swarms of spiders come and cover the three in silver dollar sized spiders. They bite and have minor poisons, but we are able to kill off most of the spiders and the few remaining ones retreat away. Further into the room is a natural cavern. Rue and Cal explore further finding yet more webs. As the tunnel starts to open up into a cavern Rue hears the skittering of a large spider. They again call up Alara and Rolph and charge into the room. Cal gets jumped by a dog sized spider, but is able to beat it back. The spider is quickly pounded into spider paste by the 4 adventurers. No treasure is found, just a dead goblin. Apparently the goblins weren't trying to hide their treasure here.
The adventurers make their way back up to the fort and since it is late set up a camp in the upper floor of the keep.